The Revel Puck Circus

The Organisation

The Revel Puck Circus is a not-for-profit contemporary circus company that tours its ‘big top’ circus shows across the UK, with a mission to redefine the public perception of circus, reach and benefit underserved communities and support emerging circus and fringe talent.

The company is passionate about bringing its accessible shows to audiences that don’t often frequent traditional performing arts venues, and works in partnerships with local authorities, private developers, and regional theatres to engage new audiences and offer performing and training opportunities to local emerging artists.

The company has quickly grown its reputation for fresh, top quality circus. In 2024 The Revel Puck Circus received the ‘Special Jury Prize’ and ‘Brittany Circus Prize’ at one of the biggest circus competitions, Cirque de Demain, held in Paris. Since inception, the company has been mentored by Cardiff-based NoFit State Circus, one of the UK’s leading large-scale contemporary circus companies.

 The Opportunity

In 2023 The Revel Puck Circus reached a point in its growth when it needed to invest in its own equipment to support its touring flexibility and autonomy. The company had purchased its own big top tent earlier that year with the help of grant funding and was keen to invest in a bespoke seating bank, a stage, lighting and sound equipment to replace its current equipment, hired on a temporary basis. In addition, the company needed an additional vehicle to complete its touring infrastructure.

Energy efficiency and sustainability aims were key to the investment as the new equipment would be much more energy efficient and easier to transport.

With the Revel Pucks’ ambitious plans for the future, the moment felt right for the company to seek social investment from ACIF, to enable the circus to update its equipment that would future-proof their operations and improve cost efficiencies throughout the touring model. The company also hoped to enhance its tent hire income stream thanks to the up-to-date equipment.

The Process

Since the vast majority of The Revel Puck Circus’s income comes from touring and project activity, the ACIF team undertook extensive due diligence to fully understand the touring model and get comfortable with future financial projections. This involved understanding the key income drivers and cost base of the circus’s touring model, analysing previous ticket sales performance, and benchmarking projected sales against industry comparators. Due to the seasonal nature of the touring activity, the ACIF team needed to understand how fluctuations in income and expenditure impacted on the company’s cash flow.

It was important to establish that the loan would remain affordable in a range of scenarios, for example in case of lower than planned touring activity, ticket sales underperformance, or reduced grant funding (e.g. from Arts Council England). These scenarios were explored between The Revel Puck Circus and the ACIF team, and appropriate risk mitigations for each were discussed.

The investment social impact assessment focussed on The Revel Puck Circus’ emerging artist programme to assess how the company was contributing to the development of emerging circus performers’ skills and careers.

Whilst touring models can involve a number of risks, the investment case was strengthened by The Revel Puck Circus’ small but impressive management team and strong financial management, as well
the team’s ability to forge new partnerships, supporting the circus’s touring with funding, infrastructure and audience building opportunities, as partners recognised the value the circus can bring to the local communities.

The Impact

The ACIF team was excited about the opportunity to support a fast-growing company, passionate about rejuvenating and strengthening the UK’s circus scene and supporting young talent within it. Providing the investment for the essential touring infrastructure will remove The Revel Puck Circus’ reliance on hired equipment, reduce costs and improve energy efficiency. It will also open the company to more income generating opportunities that will help to further establish the emerging company. Finally, the investment will be an opportunity for The Revel Puck Circus to further strengthen the way it tracks and communicates the impact it creates for the artists and communities it works with.